Books Matter: Jessica Emmett

March is National Reading Month, a whole month designated to encouraging Americans – and by extension Wacoans – to read! The Act Locally Waco blog is beating the drum for National Reading Month by hosting a blog series throughout the month of March, called “Books Matter.” Every day throughout March we will be sharing a post about a Waco resident and a book that matters to him/her.  Thank you to students from the Baylor Department of Journalism, Public Relations and New Media and professor Amber Adamson for help with this fun project.  To read all the blog posts so far, click here. 

By Bethany Kula

Jessica Emmett, community services supervisor for the Waco-McLennan County Library, has a type when it comes to books—those written by strong independent women.

Emmett said her favorite book is Bossypants written by Tina Fey. 

“In Tina’s book, she talks about growing up, how she got into comedy and writing, and then talks a little bit about how she became the boss and what exactly that means,” Emmett said.

Bossypants is an autobiography, and according to Emmett, it’s more of an entertainment biography because it is humorous. 

“I really like her style, and the tone of it is very funny,” Emmett said. “She’s super honest about where she came from. She didn’t have a troubled childhood, whereas a lot of authors do overcome things, but she did have self esteem issues and other things that were a challenge for her. It was just nice to see a story of somebody who does cool things and has a cool job.”

Emmett has worked at the library for four years and worked as a teacher and a librarian for three years before joining the Waco library. She said being a librarian has opened up the world of books for her and has led her to read many fantastic books along the way.

Emmett said she recommends this book to anyone, but women could relate to it more since it has a perspective men would not be able to see.

“I think for women, especially young women who are trying to figure out their lives, the book is a lot about the dynamics of how Tina has seen things change throughout the course of her life,” Emmett said. “It’s nice to have somebody lay a roadmap for us women to follow.”